24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 63

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

24-Hour Friendly Market Specializing in Dimensional Items Episode 63

Episode 63. ‘Lee Hae’ Who Is He (2)

“This concludes my report on the conquest of Floor 51 and Floor 52.”

Ahn Yeon-seo put down the tablet she was holding, Chronicle, and raised her head.

No one applauded despite the clean briefing.

Not even a single person nodded their head.

In the heavy and cold silence, Ahn Yeon-seo looked at her superior, Seo Jae-hyuk, with resentful eyes.

She knew that Seo Jae-hyuk was naturally sparse with emotional expressions.

But wasn’t he being too sparse even in this situation?

His subordinate had finished the briefing dignifiedly without crying in this stiff atmosphere, so he could at least show some reaction.

‘I want to go home.’

Ahn Yeon-seo quietly closed her eyes, swallowing complaints she couldn’t voice out loud.

There was only one reason why Ahn Yeon-seo was resenting Seo Jae-hyuk, whom she didn’t usually cling to.

It was because the guild meeting atmosphere was particularly shitty today.

A meeting to report on the conquest after clearing the ‘Such Desperate Peace’ scenario.

In the meeting room of Babel Management Bureau, which usually only included guilds that had cleared scenarios, a total of 11 people were seated, including the 10 who had participated in this conquest and Park Ji-woon from the Babel Management Bureau.

Guild meetings were originally dry affairs since they only gathered people with no social skills, but today was particularly severe.

A serious atmosphere as if something bad was about to happen at any moment.

That was understandable since there were suspicious aspects to clearing Floor 51 itself.

They had cleared the scenario magnificently without a single casualty.

However, it didn’t seem like the conquest team had found all the answers, so even calling it a success felt ambiguous.

Everyone in this room was probably feeling a similar uneasiness to herself.

Five from Aegis, one from Take-in, two from Shinrok, two from Wolpae.

‘They all have the same expression.’

Of course, Chae Geun-dam, who couldn’t participate in the conquest, sat there with a sullen face like a useless sack of barley.

“Guild leader, please lighten up your expression.”

“I don’t think I have any reason to be sitting here.”

“Then should I come alone?”

Chae Geun-dam and Lee Min-jung conversed quietly.

The funny point was that their voices could be heard all the way to Ahn Yeon-seo, who was sitting the farthest away.

Of course, since he had agreed to participate in the conquest team but got kicked out from the very beginning, it must be more than a little embarrassing.

However.

‘It seems like there’s something else bothering him.’

Ahn Yeon-seo’s eyes, well-versed in analysis, detected a strange anxiety emanating from Chae Geun-dam.

Just as Ahn Yeon-seo was racking her brain to chase after the identity of that anxiety.

“Certainly, this time it would have been difficult to clear without cooperation between guilds.”

Park Ji-woon opened his mouth, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Without Han Ro-mi’s field, we couldn’t have even attempted the operation, and without Jung Min-gu, Seo Jae-hyuk wouldn’t have had time to cast his skill.”

“Ahem.”

At Park Ji-woon’s neat summary, Jung Min-gu cleared his throat with an embarrassed face.

As expected of the actual head of the Babel Management Bureau.

‘…Does Park Ji-woon know that he’s called the Babel kindergarten teacher outside?’

“It would be good to continue promoting cooperation between guilds in the future. Of course, we don’t know what the next floor’s scenario will be like.”

There was no way to know the inner workings of a scenario until it started.

You could check the scenario once you entered a newly opened floor, but in situations where you didn’t receive the scenario’s blessing, you couldn’t freely exit once you entered.

In gaming terms, it would be like not being able to leave the respawn area.

Moreover, once you entered, any means of communicating with the outside disappeared.

So it was common to enter without knowing anything, then make rough strategies by guessing what would follow based only on the fragmentary information given by the scenario.

Floor 51’s scenario was clearly more friendly compared to previous scenarios, so they could prepare thoroughly, which allowed Seo Jae-hyuk to decide to form a guild alliance before the scenario started.

Of course, everyone had to suffer major injuries in the process, but that was the best choice.

‘Even if we get teased for just dipping our toes in, it was a good decision.’

However, there was no guarantee it would be the same next time.

In that sense, Park Ji-woon’s added concern was valid.

Strictly speaking, it was lucky that Floor 51’s scenario capacity was 10 people.

The scenarios they had broken through so far had accepted multiple participants.

But what if a scenario with a capacity of 1 or 2 people appeared?

Then they might go in unprepared just to test the waters and have the scenario start.

It was a hundred times better to start with guild cooperation in mind from the beginning.

As Ahn Yeon-seo was having productive thoughts, a quiet voice reached her ears.

“I’ll send official documents requesting cooperation for Floor 53 scenario conquest to the 7 major guilds and organizations under the Babel Management Bureau. Let’s try forming conquest teams in various directions as before.”

“If a solo scenario comes up, you’re basically telling us to just die.”

“…We’ll have to hope that doesn’t happen. Babel isn’t that harsh to us.”

“There’s no guarantee it will stay that way.”

When Jung Min-gu’s sharp criticism was followed by Seo Jae-hyuk’s dry response, Park Ji-woon slowly closed and opened his eyes.

It was a slow blink as if swallowing various emotions.

Park Ji-woon soon opened his mouth with a composed face as if he hadn’t heard anything.

“Then we have one last topic left. The problematic conquest contribution ranking 1st place.”

“Hah.”

Jung Min-gu was the first to react.

Jung Min-gu, who frowned as if he didn’t want to hear it, slammed the table and shouted.

“What the hell did that bastard do? This is ridiculous, we’re the ones who killed that black bastard!”

“Jung Min-gu, please watch your language. If the report isn’t false, then while you were killing the being called Agemor, that person solved another problem. The reconciliation of the two races.”

Ahn Yeon-seo, who was about to nod unconsciously, glanced at Seo Jae-hyuk.

Seo Jae-hyuk’s eyes gleamed as he stared straight ahead with a hardened face.

‘Thank goodness.’

He didn’t seem particularly angry.

“In other words, you’re saying that none of you made any effort to promote harmony between the two races during this conquest.”

Crack.

Seo Jae-hyuk gritted his teeth.

Ahn Yeon-seo made a “hup” sound and closed her mouth.

He wasn’t not angry, he was just holding it in well without showing it.

Despite Seo Jae-hyuk’s murderous expression, Park Ji-woon calmly checked the documents thoroughly with a composed face.

“Still, since he helped with the conquest, there’s a high possibility he’s not an enemy. Though I don’t know his true intentions. It’s also certain he’s Korean.”

The dry tone without any detectable emotion didn’t seem to carry any particular resentment.

‘Well, he’s right.’

It was true that he had helped rather than interfering with the scenario.

The problem was that he had helped without anyone knowing and then disappeared.

Moreover, none of the people in this room knew anything about ‘how to promote harmony between the two races.’

Strictly speaking, after deploying all the schemes behind the scenes.

‘It felt like he subtly pushed us from behind to deal with Agemor.’

If he had brazenly appeared saying he would help, it might be different, but since he didn’t even show his face, it was difficult to grasp his intentions.

Although there was a high possibility he was an ally, they couldn’t be certain whether he was an enemy or not.

Park Ji-woon, who had been fidgeting with his glasses, asked in a low voice.

“Have you never met him?”

There was no way they could have met him.

The conquest team had never let in any outsiders, nor had they encountered any suspicious people.

But then.

“Um…”

At the quiet voice, everyone turned their heads to look in one direction.

Han Ro-mi, who had been silently staring into space throughout the entire meeting, blinked with a pale face.

“I’ve met them before…”

From her posture of raising her hand to her powerless tone, it was a mirage-like attitude.

A strange light flickered in Park Ji-woon’s eyes, and a subtle killing intent circled around Seo Jae-hyuk’s face.

Seo Jae-hyuk frowned as if he couldn’t understand and asked irritably.

“Why are you telling us this now?”

There had been plenty of time to speak.

When the scenario completion notification appeared on the 51st floor, he couldn’t understand her intention of keeping her mouth shut among the expedition members who were buzzing about who ‘Lee Hae’ was.

Han Ro-mi lowered her hand and answered slowly.

“Well, nobody asked me…?”

“Are you kidding me.”

‘Are you seriously kidding me.’

For once, Ahn Yeon-seo also agreed with Jung Min-gu’s rude behavior.

Park Ji-woon, having gathered his bewilderment, looked at Han Ro-mi with slightly more serious eyes.

“What kind of person were they?”

“They were tall… um, handsome.”

“…”

Park Ji-woon, at a loss for words, only moved his mouth slightly.

“You mean you saw their face. Guild Leader Han Ro-mi, are you good at drawing?”

“I majored in chemistry though…”

“Never mind that. May I read your memory? I have a skill that can read memories.”

“What? You had something like that? You never mentioned it at the press conference!”

“Only an idiot would reveal all the skills they have.”

Jung Min-gu, who had suddenly become an idiot, just pounded his innocent chest repeatedly.

Regardless, Seo Jae-hyuk slowly stood up and headed toward Han Ro-mi.

When he summoned Legato, the dim meeting room was dyed in brilliant golden light.

Seo Jae-hyuk, who held the title ‘Memory Conductor’, had one skill he had kept hidden without revealing until now.

It was the skill that could read memories, ‘Thread’.

Usually it was a skill he used when he had no choice but to extract information from hunters attacking Aegis.

“Don’t resist the skill.”

Using it on a fellow S-rank hunter was Seo Jae-hyuk’s first attempt.

As expected, it was impossible to read Han Ro-mi’s memories in detail, but he could confirm the face of the unfamiliar man that remained faintly in her memory.

Seo Jae-hyuk carefully examined the man’s blurry features one by one from Han Ro-mi’s fragmentary memory.

Then he began to draw that silhouette in the air using Legato.

“There were moles under the left eye. Two of them…”

When he completed the composite sketch including the gentle details Han Ro-mi added, Ahn Yeon-seo quietly admired it.

“He’s handsome.”

Ahn Yeon-seo, who had unconsciously blurted out her true feelings, quickly read the room.

Fortunately, it seemed no one had listened carefully to her words.

The being called ‘Lee Hae’ drawn by Legato’s golden strings had a gentle and kind-looking impression.

To give an example, he looked like an elementary school teacher particularly popular with parents and students, or an announcer you wouldn’t want to meet at a final corporate interview.

Just as several Aegis guild members were genuinely admiring him.

Lee Min-jung, Wolpae’s vice guild leader, rolled her eyes around.

That unfamiliar man extracted from Han Ro-mi’s memory.

…It was definitely their first meeting, but somehow it felt unsettling.

What Lee Min-jung had seen was a woman, wearing a robe pulled deep over her head so she couldn’t see the face properly.

That person’s name was also…

‘It was Lee Hae.’

Now that she thought about it, they had shown Korean-like reactions and the nuance was exactly like a Korean.

Lee Min-jung hid her trembling hands under the table.

And at that moment, she discovered that Chae Geun-dam was also hiding his tightly clenched hands under the table.

Lee Min-jung had an intuition.

That the wandering merchant Lee Hae she had met, whose face she didn’t know, was the being who had secretly completed half the quest on the 51st floor.

‘Damn.’

Lee Min-jung steadied her trembling breath and tried to maintain a calm expression.

Only two people in this place.

Only Lee Min-jung and Chae Geun-dam knew the fact that Lee Hae was a woman.

She wondered if she should speak up right away, but Lee Min-jung kept her mouth shut.

The mysterious merchant who had saved them from mortal danger and helped them clear the 49th floor.

That person seemed like they didn’t want to reveal their identity, and if the fact that they were a woman wasn’t revealed, they would be completely off the suspect list.

Then Park Ji-woon closed the file folder and said.

“First, we should prioritize finding awakened registrants with names starting with ‘Lee Hae’.”

“Since there haven’t been such incidents before, it would be good to search focusing on those who registered for awakening recently.”

“Good. Ms. Han Ro-mi, please share with Babel if you have any other information, and Mr. Seo Jae-hyuk, please register the skill you just demonstrated with Babel before you leave.”

“…I don’t particularly want to make it public.”

“Mr. Seo Jae-hyuk, awakening information is managed under strict security, so you don’t need to worry. And… from now on, we’ll make the verification process for Tower of Babel entry a bit more strict-“

“Ah… um.”

Then Han Ro-mi slowly raised her hand.

When told to think about it, she seemed to have really remembered something.

“But a beastkin child was calling that person ‘big sister’…?”

…At innocent Han Ro-mi’s addition, Chae Geun-dam squeezed his eyes shut.

Lee Min-jung and Chae Geun-dam thought simultaneously.

‘Lee Hae, you’ve been caught…’

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————